Free Sixty Days to Live by Dennis Wheatley

was, and he went on:
    ‘Grand. Now, let’s see how things will pan out from there on. I can fix it this evening that a small news paragraph appears in one or two of the leading morning papers, saying that, for urgent private reasons, Fink-Drummond has left England by plane to join his wife, who is on the S.S.
Falconia
, two days out, bound for New York. The midday editions of the evening papers will carry a more prominent story:
“Ex-Cabinet Minister’s dash to join his wife on outward-bound Atlantic liner. Famous airman, Captain Brand, engaged at short notice to fly him out. Brand takes beautiful fiancée with him as passenger on trip.”
    ‘By midday your people, Rupert, will be getting really worried about your not having returned. They’ll ‘phone the Air Ministry and the balloon will go up. The late editions of the evening papers will carry a headline story:
“Ex-Cabinet Minister, ace airman, and fiancée reported lost over Atlantic.”
    ‘The
Falconia
will radio home that she is keeping a constant look-out, but has seen nothing of you. In the following mornings papers there will be a real hullabaloo, and I’m sorry to say we’ll have to cost the country a whole packet of money sending up planes to look for you; but, of course, without result. After a day or two the excitement will die down, and it will be believed that all three of you have been drowned at sea.
    ‘If any of Fink-Drummond’s relatives feel that there is something queer about his sudden departure, and start to make inquiries, this is what they will learn. That he was last seen at Sam’s wedding here, to-day. Then …’
    ‘Wait a minute, though,’ Rupert interrupted. ‘How about the chauffeur in the car that brought him down? His man is bound to wonder what’s happened when he fails to leave with the other guests.’
    ‘Say! I’m glad you thought of that. I must fix it. I’ll have a message sent him, when people start to go, that he’s to drivehome empty, as his chief is returning to London with the Marchesa del Serilla. That will tie up nicely with the rest of the story later on.
    ‘Getting back to the investigation. The chauffeur will tell Fink-Drummond’s relatives that he left here with Conchita. For a few hours Fink-Drummond disappears entirely, and no one will ever be able to find out what he did during that time, but that dovetails with this mysterious personal business on which it was so urgent that he should see his wife. The Daimler people will say that Conchita hired one of their cars to collect her at midnight, and specially insisted that the car should have blinds.
    ‘Their man will tell
his
story: that, having picked her up, she pulled down the blinds in the car, and he then drove her to Bryanston Square, where they picked up a man whose face he did not see; but whose description will roughly tally with that of Fink-Drummond. And this man was carrying a large suitcase, as though for a journey. The couple were then driven down to Captain Brand’s place at Cobham, where the lady paid the car off.
    ‘Conchita’s maid, when questioned, will say that her mistress arrived back from Sam’s wedding, and said that Captain Brand was going to take her on a night-flying trip out over the Atlantic with Mr. Fink-Drummond.
    ‘Rupert’s mechanics will tell their story of how he returned from Sam’s wedding to supervise their getting his plane ready for a special trip because he was going to fly Fink-Drummond to join his wife that night.
    ‘And Rupert’s butler will conclude the chain by informing inquirers how Conchita arrived at the house about one in the morning with Fink-Drummond, and told Rupert, in his presence, that Fink-Drummond was in such a hurry to get off that he had gone straight round to the hangar. The plane took off a few minutes later, and that is that.’
    ‘Marvellous!’ purred Conchita. ‘You seem to have thought of everything; except for one small point. What if he has some important dinner to-night, a